The technology described herein relates generally to an auxiliary power unit installable (or installed) in an aircraft, and more particularly to the management of airflow from the cabin of an aircraft to such an auxiliary power unit.
Auxiliary power units, frequently comprising gas turbine engines, are installed in some aircraft to provide mechanical shaft power to electrical and hydraulic equipment such as electrical power generators and alternators and hydraulic pumps, as opposed to the main engines which provide propulsion for the aircraft. The inlet of the compressor of such auxiliary gas turbine engines receives air from the atmosphere. Because the density of air decreases with increasing altitude, such auxiliary gas turbine engines, at increased altitude, must either work harder to produce a desired shaft power resulting in an increased operating temperature or must reduce the output shaft power to stay within an operating temperature limit.
Auxiliary power units, much like other types of equipment, also produce a certain amount of noise during operation. Such noise is often transmitted to an aircraft cabin to varying degrees both by the gas turbine engine or engines which propel the aircraft in flight as well as by the auxiliary power unit. Such noise can reach unacceptable levels, and even at modest levels can become objectionable in such a confined space over prolonged periods of time.
Known noise reduction systems include baffle mufflers often used for automobiles, Herschel Quincke tubes, and active noise canceling headphones which detect noise frequencies and emit such noise frequencies with an opposite phase. Piezoelectric materials are known wherein electricity applied to the materials produces dimensional changes in the materials.
Still, scientists and engineers continue to seek improved auxiliary power units for aircraft.